From the Series of Articles on Lens

Names:
Tessar

by

H. H. Nasse

Carl Zeiss Camera Lens Division March 2011

 Tessar – Creation and Development of One of the Most
Successful Camera Lenses of all Times
Like many other brand-named products,
camera lenses also have their own
names. The simplest method is for the
respective manufacturer to use a
protected designation for all of its lenses.
Additional product families are often
distinguished through a special name or
suffix. Suffixes in the form of long listings
of abbreviations have become fashionable
to refer to the use of prestigious
technologies such as aspheric lens
elements or special types of glass.
Cross section of the lens elements from the Anastigmat 1:9 and from the first ZEISS Tessar 1:6.3
based on the Unar design.
In the European optical industry and at
Carl Zeiss, in particular, this has always
been understated. On the other hand,
lenses with different design principles
were given special names: Tessar,
Planar, Sonnar, Biogon and Distagon
are examples of famous ZEISS lens
names. In a new series of articles, we will
identify the origins of these names and
introduce the special properties of these
lenses.
Almost all of these lens names come from
a time when optical calculations were
done without the help of computers. While
we can now calculate several thousand
surfaces each second with ray tracing,
back then it took two minutes to calculate
Carl Zeiss AG Camera Lens Division
the path of a single ray of light through a
single lens surface. During this time, the
search for usable solutions with which
the aberrations of the lens elements
could be sufficiently reduced was
accordingly difficult. Intuition, experience
and extensive knowledge of the general
lens interactions were in demand even
more than today to design and optimize
good lenses. This makes it much more
under-standable that the successful
result to what was often years of work
required a name.
The word Tessar is an acronym derived
from the Greek word tessares meaning
four. It expresses that this lens is
comprised of four lens elements.
Correspondingly, the patent from 1902
stresses the following properties:
“A spherical, chromatic and astigmatic
corrected lens comprised of four lens
elements divided into two groups by the
diaphragm. One of these groups consists
of two elements separated by air, the
other of two cemented elements. The
refractive power of the surfaces
separated by air is negative, that of the
cemented surface positive."
2/9
Protar and Unar: father and mother of
the Tessar
You can often find articles explaining that
this optical design is the improvement of
the Cooke Triplets from Dennis Taylor – a
three-element lens with a negative
element in the middle – in which one of
the exterior positive elements has been
replaced by a cemented group to create
the Tessar. There is, of course, some
relationship between the two designs –
this is due simply to the fact that usable
solutions to lens correction problems are
similar. Nonetheless, the inventor of the
Tessar, Paul Rudolph, took an entirely
different approach. He had calculated two
predecessors, the Protar and the Unar,
which were completely different from the
Triplet. The Tessar contained parts of
these two lenses, just like a child has
genes from its mother and father.
Another predecessor of the Tessar is the
ZEISS Unar shown here, from which the two-
element front element was used.
The predecessors to the Tessar were
based on the key glass innovations of the
1880s. At the age of 26, physics professor
Ernst Abbe joined the microscope
workshop of Carl Zeiss in 1866 with the
goal of establishing a scientific basis for
the construction of microscopes. A key
corollary of his fundamental work was that
new types of glass were required to make
microscope lenses even more powerful.
He found a partner in chemist Otto Schott
who found a solution to this task in the
short period from 1880 to 1886. It quickly
became obvious that these new Schott
glasses were not only useful in
microscopy, but also ideal for improving
camera lenses. This potential, and
economic considerations such as how
Carl Zeiss could become more crisis-proof
through diversification, led Carl Zeiss to
manufacture camera lenses beginning in
1890.
Carl Zeiss AG Camera Lens Division
All camera lenses built before 1890
exhibited considerable deficiencies in
image quality, particularly when they
were not extremely slow. Although
spherical aberrations, chromatic
aberrations and distortion were corrected
relatively well on the new symmetrical
lenses available from the 1860s
(Aplanat from Steinheil and the Rapid
Rectilinear from Dallmeyer in England),
field curvature and astigmatism were so
large that a lens focused to infinity in the
center of the image frame delivered crisp
images at the edge of an image of
objects less than one meter away This
had to be taken into consideration while
composing the image to ensure that the
photos would not be entirely unusable.
For example, interior scenes always had
to be photographed from a corner of the
room.
In the beginning it was the
Anastigmat
The first camera lenses from Carl Zeiss
were called Anastigmat and described
how the company was able to
considerably reduce the above-
described problem. It was derived from
the Greek word stigma, meaning point.
Astigmatism is the aberration that does
not generate point-shaped focus. The
word anastigmat is therefore a double
negative, a “non-non-point” lens. The
first and simplest anastigmats were
comprised of four lens elements,
arranged in two cemented groups.
One of the predecessors of the Tessar, a
ZEISS anastigmat from the 1890s.
3/9
The front element is an old achromat, i.e.
an achromat - a color-corrected pair of
lens elements - made of the old types of
glass. The old types of glass were crown
glass with a low refractive index and
relatively minor dispersion (color
dispersion) and flint glass with a higher
refractive index and higher dispersion.
Flint glass, by the way, got its name from
the use of flint as a supplier of the base
material for glass: silicon dioxide.
Furthermore, it also contained lead oxide
which improved its viscosity when melted,
making it easier for glassblowers to work
with. At the same time, its refractive index
increased, giving glass dishes more shine.
As a result of the combination of refractive
index and dispersion, manufacturers had
to apply to the cemented surface of the
achromats the curvature seen in the
sectional drawing to achieve the desired
chromatic correction. With this surface
curvature, it was possible to master
spherical aberrations, but not astigmatism.
This was different with the new achromats
made from the new types of glass melted
by Otto Schott. These new types of glass
were known as dense crown glass
because they combined a relatively high
refractive index with lower color
dispersion. The combinations of refractive
index and dispersion now available
enabled a cemented surface in achromats
with a collective effect, which could be
used to correct astigmatism. However,
with the new achromats, very little could
be done to influence the spherical
aberrations. Therefore, it was a logical
idea to combine both types of achromats
with complementing properties to create a
lens in which an old achromat was used
for the front element and a new achromat
for the rear element.
In 1899, Paul Rudolph found that the
effect of the cemented surface in the
anastigmats could also be achieved
using suitable spacing between stand-
alone lens elements. This led to the
Unar consisting of four single, non-
cemented lens elements. The further
analysis of these two systems led Paul
Rudolph to conclude that a mixture of the
two would demonstrate the best
behavior. This resulted in the birth of the
Tessar, which was comprised of the
front element of the Unar and the rear
element of a simple Protar, and featured
lens speed of 1:6.3 (f/6.3). At a time
when apertures of 1:8 and 1:20 were
common, this was a downright “high-
speed” lens.
Furthermore, his correction was quite
good for the times despite rather
moderate glass material efforts. This was
important back then because anti-
reflective coatings had not yet been
invented, meaning that all systems
featuring multiple lens elements and
glass-to-air surfaces were automatically
doomed to failure due to lack of contrast
resulting from stray light. The maximum
aperture of the Tessar soon increased to
1:4.5 and 1:3.5 as a result of the new
calculations from Ernst Wandersleb.

Later, front and rear groups consisted of

up to four cemented lens elements. The
name Anastigmat finally became a generic
term for all lenses corrected with the new
methods and was no longer exclusively
the domain of Carl Zeiss. These lenses
therefore went by the name Protar from
1900 on. They represented considerable
progress for the time, but compared to the
lenses from the 1960s used for similar
recording formats, they still exhibited
significant aberrations.

Carl Zeiss AG Camera Lens Division 4/9

Tessar design principle model for many
manufacturers around the globe
The ingeniously simple design and the
good performance in every aspect of
lenses with moderate maximum aperture
and with medium image angles made the
Tessar one of the most successful camera
lenses ever. During the term of the patent,
Carl Zeiss issued many licenses to other
manufacturers, and when patent
protection ended in 1920, the design
principle was used by a wide range of
manufacturers around the world. It was
the standard lens on many cameras well
into the 1970s. During this period, it was
also continuously improved without
changing the general design. Simply the
advances in glass technology, similar to
the time of its birth, enabled performance
increases which also demonstrate the
potential of the basic idea.
From the outside, a Tessar from 1920
looks exactly the same as one from 1965,
but the image quality of the newer lens is
considerably better.
Nothing expresses the famous reputation of the
Tessar better than the comparison with an
eagle eye.
The Tessar brand name was and still is
modified with prefixes:
Apo-Tessars were made of special types
of glass to achieve better chromatic
correction, which is required, for example,
for the reproduction of line masters. Pro-
Tessars were not intended for
professional photography as could be
suspected based on today’s popular
wording. They were complex attachment
systems and customers were able to
replace the front lens element of the
Tessar on such cameras with the
attachment system to change the focal
length and transform the normal lens into
a wide-angle or tele lens. From today’s
perspective, these convertible lenses were
Carl Zeiss AG Camera Lens Division
a technical dead end because the focal
length variations were modest, yet still
required rather large and heavy
attachments with a low maximum
aperture. The reason for this rather
unfavorable solution was that the mass-
produced central shutter was preferred
for too long. Most cameras today with
interchangeable optics have a high-
performance focal plane shutter.
The Tele-Tessar is a true tele lens
comprised of a positive front group and a
negative rear element, i.e. a system
whose length is clearly shorter than the
focal length, which makes long focal
lengths more convenient. There is no
similarity to the general design of the
Tessar and is simply intended to utilize
the popularity of the name. The Tele-
Apotessar incorporated special types of
glass for outstandingly good correction of
chromatic aberrations.
The Vario-Tessar also has little in
common with the general design of its
namesake. Its name expresses that this
Vario (zoom) lens delivers good
performance at a moderate price – like
the famous Tessar.
With the Tele-Tessar T* 4/85 ZM it is
even more difficult. It is in no way a tele
lens with a reduced mechanical length
like the earlier Tele-Tessars, but a nearly
symmetrical lens and therefore
practically distortion-free. If you are
looking for famous ancestors with the
same lens cross section, you will find the
Heliar from Voigtländer – but Carl Zeiss
does not have any property rights to this
name. And because the latter is also
similar to the Tessar, the name is still
somehow justified. This example
demonstrates that the rules of lens
names have their limits and exceptions
because there are always mixtures and
overlapping between the traditional
designs.
5/9
 designed with four lens elements with
aspheric surfaces. The resolution of
these small and economical optics is far
superior to the best 35 mm lenses – but
this is due to the short focal length and
the small image field.

Modern example of the Tessar design, the Tele

Tessar 4/85 ZM for the 35 mm format.

The name Tessar lives on in our state-of-

the-art miniature lenses for camera
modules in the mobile phones of our
partner Nokia. The similarity to the classic
Tessar is that four lens elements are
usually used. The small size is also a
related feature and an absolute must for
the small volume of a pocket-sized device.
However, the functionality of this tiny lens
no longer has anything to do with the
original Tessar patent. It is usually

Cross section of a four-element lens for the camera module in a mobile phone. The head of a match is
provided to demonstrate how small it is on a 24x36 mm image sensor. You can clearly see the strong
aspheric surfaces of the lens elements.

Carl Zeiss AG Camera Lens Division 6/9

Some performance data shows the improvement of optic:

f-number k = 8 f = 167 mm f-number k = 16 f = 167 mm

100 100
MTF [%] MTF [%]
80 80

60 60

40 40

20 20

0 0
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 0 10 20 30 40 50 60
u' [mm] u' [mm]

Performance data (modulation transmission) of a historical Zeiss anastigmat from 1897. At first
glance, the curves look like those of modern lenses – but the measurement was made at much
lower spatial frequencies of 4, 8 and 16 line pairs per mm. If you remember that this lens was
intended for the 13x18 plate format, it is understandable why so many pictures from the time
were so razor sharp. A lens for the 35 mm format then had to have the same curves for 20, 40
and 80 Lp/mm. In optics, as with a car – size plays a role.

f-number k = 3.5 f = 75 mm f-number k = 8 f = 75 mm

100 100
MTF % MTF %
80 80

60 60

40 40

20 20

0 0
0 10 20 30 40 0 10 20 30 40
u' [mm] u' [mm]

Performance data (modulation transmission for 10, 20 und 40 Lp/mm) of a Tessar

3.5/75 for 6x6 roll film cameras from 1922.

Carl Zeiss AG Camera Lens Division 7/9

 f-number k = 2.8 f = 50 mm f-number k = 8 f = 50 mm

100 100
MTF [%] MTF [%]
80 80

60 60

40 40

20 20

0 0
0 5 10 15 20 0 5 10 15 20
u' [mm] u' [mm]

Performance data (modulation transmission for 10, 20 und 40 Lp/mm) of a Tessar

2.8/50 for 35 mm SLR cameras from 1962.

f-number k = 4 f = 85 mm f-number k = 8 f = 85 mm

100 100
MTF [%] MTF [%]
80 80

60 60

40 40

20 20

0 0
0 5 10 15 20 0 5 10 15 20
u' [mm] u' [mm]

Performance data (modulation transmission for 10, 20 und 40 Lp/mm) of a modern

Tessar design, Tele Tessar 4/85 ZM for 35 mm rangefinder cameras. If features even
crispness into the image edges that are virtually independent of the aperture and is
practically distortion-free.

Carl Zeiss AG Camera Lens Division 8/9

 f-number k = 2.8 f = 5.2 mm

100
MTF [%]

80

60

40

20

0
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5
u' [mm]

Performance data of a Tessar lens for a mobile phone camera measures with 20, 40
and 80 Lp/mm. It is better than the best 35 mm lenses – but only for a very small
image.

Anastigmat (left front), Unar (back middle) and Tessar lenses for different camera formats.

Carl Zeiss AG Camera Lens Division 9/9